Loughborough UCU

Tag: Palestine

  • Expanding Palestine Solidarity Working Group to Demilitarisation Working Group 

    Written by LUCU Palestine Solidarity Working Group 

    Based on a branch motion passed in Oct 2024, LUCU has run a Palestine Solidarity Working Group that includes members from both campuses as well as committee members. We have made a strong effort to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide and occupation and crucially, to make it possible to speak about and organise in support of Palestine without fear of reprisals at Loughborough University.   

    Since then, the working group has done the following: 

    • Repeatedly pushed the University to re-assess its projects with potential links to breaches of international law, war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians, as it did with links to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine  
    • Sought clarity from the University that students would not be penalised for boycotting “mandatory” careers fairs with military presence 
    • Advocated for the rights of students to protest and to protect their identities, given concerns around political targeting of migrants 
    • Offered to mediate a meeting between University leaders and members of the REACH network and Loughborough Action for Palestine 
    • Held a Demilitarise Education hybrid workshop at the London campus on 13th November 2024 [I can ask for the dED slides if we can link here] 
    • Held two talks by Prof Ali Bilgic: ‘Contextualising the Conflict: A Brief History of the Middle East’ 8 July 2026 & ‘When The World Looked Away’ 3 March 2026 
    • Screened Maha Haj’s 2024 Upshot and Mohammed Bakri’s Jenin Jenin (2002) for Palestine Cinema Day 2025 at LUL – 4th November 2025, in collaboration with Filmlab Palestine / Palestine Cinema Days 2025 

    Working group members agree that they have fulfilled, to the extent possible, the aims of the initial motion in creating solidarity for Palestine among staff and students and supporting student rights to free speech and protest. We feel that the appropriate next step is to expand the remit of the working group to broader efforts against university militarisation. Key aims/actions would be to:  

    • Review Loughborough’s relationship to the UK and any foreign military entities, whether through research, funding, or teaching    
    • Request information on Loughborough’s plans to try and join the Defence Universities Alliance  
    • Work against further defence/military alliances and work to de-militarise the university’s existing relationships  
    • Create resources for education on the relationship between militarisation in education and capitalist interests within the UK that affect staff and students  
    • Explore, and make visible, contradictions between Loughborough’s ethical standards in academic research, and commitment to sustainability, with militarisation   
    • Ensure all forms of military aggression are reviewed on an equitable basis (e.g. breaking ties with Russia vs. with Israel)   
    • Invite Demilitarise Education (dED) for a workshop available to LUCU members and non-members  

    We remain committed to taking action in support of Palestine when our members identify relevant opportunities to do so. We will continue to work to transform the culture of silence around the occupation and genocide and keep Palestine on the agenda at Loughborough. 

    If you would like to get involved in this work, please contact the branch via ucu@lboro.ac.uk

  • Palestinian Festival of Culture and Film – Derby

    Palestinian Festival of Culture and Film – Derby

    This Festival illuminates the richness of Palestinian culture – its resilience, creativity and humanity – whilst also fostering a deeper understanding of the injustice Palestinians face and the distorted narratives that obscure their reality.

    The Festival will donate funds to charities that provide direct support to Palestinians.

    Some events are ticketed, while others offer free admission.

    For more information and/or tickets, see this website: https://snappytickets.co.uk/event/pal-fest-26/

  • Talk: When The World Looked Away – Palestine

    Lboro UCU will host a talk, open to all staff and students, by Ali Bilgic – Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics at Loughborough University. The talk will take place on Tuesday 3rd March at 12-1pm on the Loughborough campus in JB021 in the Sir John Beckwith Centre for Sport (map) and online. Please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk to register your interest in attending in person or online.

    This talk offers a concise examination of the historical, political, and legal dynamics shaping the conflict in Palestine, with particular focus on Gaza. Beginning with the ideological origins of Zionism and the waves of settler migration under British rule, it traces how settler‑colonial practices, racialisation, and land dispossession laid the foundations for ongoing structural violence Palestinians have to endure everyday. The talk also unpacks Israel’s legal framework highlighting systemic inequalities entrenched in state policy. Contemporary developments such as ICC arrest warrant applications, UN findings about the genocide in Gaza, and escalating settler violence in the West Bank illuminate the severity of present‑day conditions. The presentation also foregrounds Gaza’s environmental devastation, described as ecocide, and the humanitarian catastrophe persisting even after the ceasefire. Concluding with avenues for solidarity and cultural engagement, it challenges audiences to recognise moral responsibilities and to amplify Palestinian voices wherever they can.

  • Talk: When The World Looked Away – Palestine

    Talk: When The World Looked Away – Palestine

    Lboro UCU will host a talk, open to all staff and students, by Ali Bilgic – Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics at Loughborough University. The talk will take place on Tuesday 3rd March at 12-1pm on the Loughborough campus in JB021 in the Sir John Beckwith Centre for Sport (map) and online. Please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk to register your interest in attending in person or online.

    This talk offers a concise examination of the historical, political, and legal dynamics shaping the conflict in Palestine, with particular focus on Gaza. Beginning with the ideological origins of Zionism and the waves of settler migration under British rule, it traces how settler‑colonial practices, racialisation, and land dispossession laid the foundations for ongoing structural violence Palestinians have to endure everyday. The talk also unpacks Israel’s legal framework highlighting systemic inequalities entrenched in state policy. Contemporary developments such as ICC arrest warrant applications, UN findings about the genocide in Gaza, and escalating settler violence in the West Bank illuminate the severity of present‑day conditions. The presentation also foregrounds Gaza’s environmental devastation, described as ecocide, and the humanitarian catastrophe persisting even after the ceasefire. Concluding with avenues for solidarity and cultural engagement, it challenges audiences to recognise moral responsibilities and to amplify Palestinian voices wherever they can.

  • Why Palestine is a Feminist Issue: Breaking the Silence on Genocide

    Why Palestine is a Feminist Issue: Breaking the Silence on Genocide

    Maryam Aldossari (QMUL) ‘Why Palestine is a Feminist Issue: Breaking the Silence on Genocide’

    23rd October @ 5pm – In Room CC110, James France building, Midlands Campus – (related paper)

  • Palestine Film Festival

    Palestine Film Festival

    Screenings of Upshot and Jenin, Jenin.

    4th November @ 6:30pm

    In Room LDN001 at the Loughborough London Campus

  • IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza

    The branch notes that the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association, has approved a resolution declaring that “since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide”.

    The resolution calls on the Israeli government to “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.”

    You can read the full text of the resolution here.

  • LUCU Response to University Comms regarding Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act and Supreme Court Ruling

    In light of this week’s communications from Sam McGinty (Director of Legal Services) and Veronica Moore (EDI Executive Director), the LUCU Equality Officer and Branch Committee would like to express their appreciation of the tandem statements being shared. We especially value the expressed commitment to humility, learning, consultation and inclusion, alongside upholding legal obligations. While the LUCU Committee was not consulted on the content of these statements in advance, the University has subsequently engaged in helpful discussion with us around them.

    Further, our Equality Officer, along with representatives from the other two campus Unions, Unite and UNISON, will contribute to this ongoing dialogue at the EDI Board (the main governance structure for EDI) from September 2025; in recent years only one Union rep was permitted per meeting. 

    We will use both formal and informal processes to understand these policy developments and anticipate how they will affect our members. We have also requested to be more closely included in decision-making on these issues going forward, including in the preparation of communications and guidance documents.

    While we understand the difficult legal position HEIs now face, we are nevertheless disappointed that the University finds itself no longer able to take a position on important matters, such as the genocide currently being carried out against Palestinians in Gaza and recent trans-exclusionary moves by the Supreme Court and EHRC – both of which UCU condemns.

    Please feel free to contact LUCU Equality Officer Angela Martinez Dy with any specific queries. She is committed to prioritising member engagement and raising concerns about forthcoming changes either individually or collectively.

  • Contextualising the Conflict: A Brief History of the Middle East

    Loughborough University UCU will be hosting an open meeting on 8th July (12:30 – 13:30) focussed on contextualising the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

    In his talk entitled “Contextualising the Conflict: A Brief History of the Middle East”, Ali Bilgic, Professor in International Relations and Middle East Politics at Loughborough University, presents a potted history of the Middle East to help attendees contextualise the horrors we have witnessed for many years, but in particular since the 7th of October 2023.

    The session is open to all staff and students and will include a Q&A and discussion. Please feel free to share this invitation within the Loughborough University community.

    When: 8th July, 12:30 – 13:30

    Where: Schofield 0.01 and on Teams: Join the meeting now

  • Palestine Motion

    Following the motion passed at our autumn General Meeting we have continued to pursue the motion’s stated objectives.  In particular, we have continued to push the University to re-assess its projects with potential links to breaches of international law, war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians, as it did with links to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.  This request was refused.  We asked as a general case what the bar would be for re-assessment where the ethical context had significantly changed since the project’s initial ethics approval.  The University responded, emphasising legality as the important factor, implying that our “Ethics approvals” process is in fact simply a “legality checking” process.  We will continue to challenge this, given the emphasis on ethical and moral implications embedded in our Ethical Policy Framework.

    LUCU are planning an open meeting on the history of the Middle East conflict to help everyone better understand the context that has led us to the current situation.

  • Leicester & District Trades Union Council Events

    Your Rights, The Law, and Empowerment Event

    Unite Community Leicester has organised an event “Your Rights, The Law, and Empowerment” on Sunday 19th January 2025 from 11am – 4pm. Everyone is welcome to join them at: Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, Leicester (LE1 1WB).

    Lawyers will give three presentations to update you on laws around protest and strike action, with each focusing on one of the following topics: “Unions”, “Palestine” and “Climate & Ecological Emergency”. The event is supported by Leicester & District Trades Union Council (L&DTUC). For more information, please see this flyer.

    Organising the next Workers Memorial Day

    The Health, Safety and Welfare (HSW) subcommittee of Leicester & District Trades Union Council (L&DTUC) will meet to start organising the next Workers Memorial Day event. The meeting will be on Tuesday 21st January 2025 starting at 6pm and, it’s hoped, will not last much more than an hour. All trade unionists are welcome. You do not need to be a trades council delegate to get involved. The organising meeting will be held on Zoom. If you’re interested in contributing, please use this link to join the meeting.

  • Week of Action on Palestinian Right to Education

    In response to Birzeit University’s call for academics, activists, unions and solidarity groups to participate in the “Right to Education” Week of Action (November 23-30). Loughborough UCU (LUCU) organised an awareness-raising event amplifying the theme of “United Against Scholasticide”, highlighting Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s higher education infrastructure and community.

    On November 28th, colleagues and doctoral researcher members of LUCU based on the London campus hosted a stall from 10AM-4PM. Printed resources from Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SWAP), including its useful toolkit, were made available, alongside flyers from other solidarity organisations. These set out the definition of scholasticide and the devastating statistics regarding affected educational institutions, educators and students. LUCU’s new Palestinian Solidarity Working Group, formed in response to a successful member-raised motion to support Loughborough Action for Palestine Coalition, also created and distributed a leaflet in printed and digital versions, highlighting British universities’ potential complicity in the genocide through collaborative research and development partnerships with organisations enabling Israel’s occupation, colonialism and apartheid.

    At the time of writing (2/12/2024), SWAP’s tracker for scholasticide notes the following:

    • All 11 Gazan universities have been bombed
    • 5,213 students have been murdered
    • 90,000 university students cannot attend university
    • 8,691 students have been injured.
    • 370 schools have been damaged or destroyed, leaving more than 620,000 students out of schools
    • At least 239 educators have been killed
    • 60% of bookshops and libraries have been destroyed

    The stall and stallholders were met with an overall curious and positive reception from both staff and students. On the same day, Loughborough Action for Palestine Coalition endorsed and attended a rally hosted by other university coalitions and solidarity groups to protest the University of London’s injunction to criminalise protests in support of the Boycott Divest and Sanctions movement on campus.

    Dr Angela Martinez Dy, LUCU Equality Officer, commented: “The ongoing destruction by Israel’s military of Palestinian knowledge, evident in the targeting of educators and students in the ongoing war, is a concern for academia globally. It’s great to see LUCU members responding to Palestinian scholars’ leadership, drawing attention and raising awareness about scholasticide amongst the Loughborough Uni community, and encouraging people to take action.”

    Please consider signing the petition here, and contact LUCU Equality Officer Angela Martinez Dy to join the working group and progress future actions.

    Thanks go to Iman Khan and the LUCU Palestinian Solidarity Working Group for writing this update.